


Odd, We Two

by FeoplePeel



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 09:46:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11145912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeoplePeel/pseuds/FeoplePeel
Summary: Queenie had always been the oddest one in the room by existence, andloudabout it by choice. To be matched by another was a rare thing.





	Odd, We Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alamorn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alamorn/gifts).



> Just a small gift fic for alamorn I wrote about a month back (because there isn't enough Serapheenie and I'd never written Daemons). Enjoy!

It was never something Queenie took advantage of as a child, having a daemon that could fly so far from her. Others certainly tested the limits, her sister among them. Packages to the base of Mount Greylock by the truly gifted or love notes from the North tower to...well honestly the front slope is where most of them ended up, and from there it generally fell to the Starving Boulders to sort out. Affairs of the heart left to dirt, how's that for romance? She had heard the last story from an overly embarrassed Tina.

Well...she had plucked it from her head the night she found her looking forlornly out of the front doors.

But Queenie liked her adventures on the ground, with other people. She enjoyed the small shapes Aurelia took, so near to her while others flew high overhead. She supposed she should have felt some regret when Aurelia settled into a marmoset that could fit into her hand, but there was only a prickling curiosity and _barely_ that.

Aurelia didn't fly like most of her other classmates daemons, who had settled, or Orphenti, Tina’s long-winged, white tipped blackbird. Aurelia was small and shrewd and said the things out loud that Queenie noticed quite plainly. And she was...a she. Aurelia was _different_ , like Queenie.

There was no sense in hiding it.

”Queenie Goldstein and Aurelia…,” the head of the Wand Permit Department, Mr Kenneth Shriner, stared down his nose at them, the lark on his shoulder imitating the gesture with alarming accuracy. He was thinking the same thing they all thought at first: _that's no bird._ “It says here your reference is a _Porpentina_ Goldstein?”

“Yes, Teenie! That's my sister.”

“She already has quite the record.” He tilted his head, the lark tilting with him.

“A good one,” Queenie smiled and she knew it was winning because he thought as much. “So I've heard.”

He opened his mouth, eyes widening at something just over her shoulder. Queenie didn't turn, and a quick stroke down Aurelia's arm stilled her as well.

_What the hell does she want?_ he thought, only a moment before saying, “Madame President?”

“I'll take over from here,” said a voice behind her, and he stood with a shrug. Aurelia seized the moment, moving to look around Queenie’s bicep.

_She's as tall as they say,_ Aurelia’s thoughts shifted over Queenie’s and she sorted them quickly from her own. The benefit and drawback of having a daemon with her very specific ability. _And pretty. Ocelot daemon for now. No wait...marmoset._

Queenie experienced a moment of panicked confusion--she wasn't sure whether it belonged to her or Aurelia--and then she was sitting across from Seraphina Picquery.

She understood, logically that the President’s daemon was unsettled--the woman had run her campaign on it with overwrought metaphors about flexibility and change--but seeing it this close...she understood why Mr Shriner had stared at her so. Queenie had always been the oddest one in the room by existence, and _loud_ about it by choice. To be matched by another was a rare thing.

“Madame President it is an honour--”

“You can call me Picquery.” The other woman cut her off, hand lowered to scoop her daemon from the ground ( _Dahana,_ Queenie’s mind, or rather the papers that she had bothered to rifle through, supplied). “Your sister says you just graduated. And that you're good with people?”

Queenie wondered if this was a test of the latter. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. We need that in this department. Those who come down here are usually _not_ good with people.” She said flatly. “You're a Legilimens?”

“Yes ma’am, best you'll ever meet. Don't even need to shake my hand.” Queenie had learned being honest about it upfront saved her a fair bit of trouble in the long run. _Bite the ankles first_ , as Aurelia used to say.  

“I'm sure you've noticed but I tend to brush past formalities.” Picquery _did_ appear to have a prickly nature about her, but Queenie was used to Tina’s own stern countenance and could easily tell when someone looked to be fighting a smile. “We could use someone with your ability on our--”

“I do appreciate it.” Queenie didn't wait to hear the promotion, the benefits, how she'd be helping her community, choosing to cut the president off this time. “But I think the Wand Permit Department is more my speed, ma’am.” 

“However you like.” Picquery lifted a shoulder. Queenie tried in vain not to stare at Dahana as she transformed from a small monkey to a snake, curling around Picquery’s arm. “Have you attempted to read my mind since I've entered the room?”

Queenie inhaled sharply, eyes shooting back to Picquery’s face. “No ma’am!"

“Why not?” 

_I was wondering the same thing._ Aurelia looked up, gaze too knowing to be truly accusing.

“You're...the president!”

“Hm,” Picquery looked decidedly unimpressed. “And Shriner?”

Queenie couldn't help it, she laughed. “Oh yeah, he's real easy.”

“Excellent. I think we'll give you that desk.” She pointed to the center of the room, and though it was at the back it would make Queenie the first person anyone saw when they walked in. It looked...important. “You'd be amazed at what people have let slip through this department. It would not go amiss if you can stop that happening in some small way. Can you manage that?”

And in _this_ she was confident at least. “Madame...Picquery,” Queenie leaned forward, Aurelia held tight to her stomach. " _You'd_ be amazed at the places a mind can wander when a pretty girl bats her eyelashes.”

Finally, very slowly, Picquery grinned. “I would not.” 

Queenie’s mind, distracted not by the fluttering of eyelashes but of the perfect eyes between them, let itself wander too. The question it settled on was, “I have to ask, why did the president come all the way down here? Couldn't just be to interview little old me.”

“I could tell you I like to stay involved with the little people, as it's definitely what I'll be telling everyone else. I could say I'm bored or eccentric, as though anyone who's been around me for more than ten minutes could believe me capable of being bored or _eccentric_.” She spat the last like a dirty word. Indeed it _had_ only been ten minutes and Queenie could see everything the president did seemed poised...planned.

Except for this moment, where she sat biting her bottom lip. Wondering whether she should tell the truth, if Queenie had to guess. She _could_ read her mind--a small part of her wondered if she'd be _able_ to--but Queenie settled for smiling wider, encouraging.

“The truth is your daemon is extraordinary,” Picquery motioned to Aurelia who didn't _exactly_ preen, though it was a near thing, then to Dahana, once again a mirrored marmoset in the president's hand. “ _My_ daemon is extraordinary. We have to stick together, us uniquely fascinating individuals.”

“Oh,” Queenie hoped her smile didn't look as ridiculous as it felt as it stretched across her face. “Thank you.”

“Really,” Picquery raised herself from the desk. “Don't mention it.” She looked around the office as she passed Queenie, hand settling briefly on her shoulder. “Take care of yourself down here.”

“Did you hear that, Aurelia?” Queenie lifted her hand to her face as soon as Picquery was out of hearing range.

“I heard you turning down a promotion!” This time Aurelia _was_ accusing.

“Not that!” Queenie reached up to touch her shoulder with her free hand. “She thinks I'm _uniquely fascinating._ ”

A moment later a thought hit Queenie with a dryness that could only mean it was one of Aurelia’s, _Only because I'm extraordinary you silly girl._

She giggled, reaching down to stroke behind Aurelia's ear. “I'll take it.”


End file.
